Independent researchers from Monash University have been called in to investigate the rate of cancer and causes of death of people who have worked and trained at the Country Fire Authority's (CFA) Fiskville site.

It is in response to a recommendation made in a report on training practices at Fiskville between 1971 and 1999.

The training ground near Ballan, west of Melbourne, has been linked to a number of cancer-related deaths.

The researchers will investigate 250 people and will focus on those who faced the biggest exposure to chemicals at the site.

The Director of Monash University's centre of occupational and environmental health, Professor Malcolm Sim, says the results will be used in a national study on the health of firefighters.

"It'll be used to get an idea of the extent of the problem, which we don't really know at the moment and we're identifying not only the types of cancer that these people have suffered but also other types of death that aren't due to cancer, so it might be respiratory disease or neurological disease," he said.

"We're hoping to get the information on these people in the early part of next year and do the linkage around the middle of next year to the registries so hopefully getting some preliminary results out in the latter part of next year," Professor Sim said.